Research brief
Trends in children’s academic skills at school entry: 2010 – 2017
2019
By: Megan Kuhfeld, James Soland, Christine Pitts, Margaret Burchinal
Description
This study provides the first national insight into trends and disparities in the academic skills of children at school entry for students who began kindergarten between 2010 and 2017.
View research briefTopics: Equity, Early learning
Associated Research
Related Topics
Achievement and Growth Norms for Spanish MAP Reading Fluency Foundational Skills Report
This technical report presents achievement and growth norms for Spanish MAP Reading Fluency Foundational Skills (grades K–3), enabling educators to interpret student performance and progress in early literacy domains relative to national peer groups.
By: Wei He
Products: MAP Reading Fluency
Topics: Early learning, Item response theory, Measurement & scaling, Test design
Spanish MAP Reading Fluency Technical Report
This technical report outlines the design, scoring, reliability, and validity of the Spanish MAP Reading Fluency assessment, demonstrating how it measures foundational skills and oral reading fluency to support early literacy development.
By: Rachel Hawthorne, Sara Velazquez, Fang Peng, Carmen Hall, John Newburn
Products: MAP Reading Fluency
Topics: Early learning, Equity, Measurement & scaling, Test design
MAP Growth Spanish Technical Report- Addendum
This technical addendum report is written to help measurement professionals and administrators evaluate the quality of the MAP Growth’s Spanish assessments.
By: Patrick Meyer, Janice Johnson, Xueming (Sylvia) Li, Ann Hu, Carmen Hall
Products: MAP Growth, MAP Spanish
Topics: Equity, Item response theory, Measurement & scaling, Test design
Should kindergartners be redshirted? Costs likely outweigh academic benefits
This research brief examines the data on holding back five-year-olds from starting kindergarten – a practice known as redshirting. Using national data from over three million kindergartners from NWEA’s MAP Growth K-2 assessment, this study explores redshirting trends between fall 2017 and 2025. It also follows a kindergarten cohort (2021-22) through the third grade, examining whether there were academic advantages for redshirted students.
By: Megan Kuhfeld, Sofia Postell
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: Early learning, Growth
Technical Appendix: Should kindergartners be redshirted? Costs likely outweigh academic benefits
This is the technical appendix for the research brief titled, “Should kindergartners be redshirted?” which examines the data on holding back five-year-olds from starting kindergarten – a practice known as redshirting.
By: Megan Kuhfeld, Sofia Postell
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: Growth, Early learning
Kindergarten redshirting: What families should know
This is a family facing fact sheet about the data on the practice of delaying kindergarten, known as redshirting. Schools can use this fact sheet with families considering redshirting or who just want more information.
By: Megan Kuhfeld, Sofia Postell
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: Early learning, Growth
Unequal Access to 8th-Grade Algebra: How School Offerings and Placement Practices Limit Opportunity
This NWEA research brief examines how access to early Algebra – a key gateway to advanced high school math, STEM majors, and higher lifetime earnings – remains highly inequitable across the United States. Using NWEA data from 162,000 eighth-grade students across 22 states, the study looks at both whether schools offer Algebra by 8th grade and how students are placed when it is offered. The findings point to significant gaps tied to school poverty levels, geography, and race/ethnicity.
By: Daniel Long, Megan Kuhfeld, Scott J. Peters
Topics: College & career readiness, Equity, Math & STEM